title: Picosecond tunable mode locking of a Cr2+:ZnSe laser with a nonlinear mirror.
abstract: We report on a nonlinear mirror (NLM) scheme that enables, for the first time to the best of our best knowledge, tunable mode locking of a Cr2+:ZnSe laser in the picosecond regime. The NLM-used as the output coupler of the laser cavity-consists of a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal with a fan-out grating coupled with a dichroic mirror and a wedged dispersive YAG plate. The Cr2+:ZnSe laser, pumped by a CW thulium-doped fiber laser, delivers 85 ps pulses at a repetition rate of 220 MHz with a 300 mW average power. Thanks to the use of a fan-out PPLN crystal, we benefit from the wide tunability of the Cr2+:ZnSe laser and achieve mode locking over the whole 2.44-2.55 μm range while maintaining a narrow-linewidth emission suitable for time-resolved nonlinear spectroscopy applications.
authors.affiliation: ONERA-The French Aerospace Laboratory, Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Dherbecourt
authors.forename: Adrien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Denoeud
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Melkonian
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raybaut
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Godard
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lefebvre
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosencher